The Coalition of the Willing on Pollinators, or Promote Pollinators, delivered a statement at the ongoing (25-29 November 2019) Plenary of the 23rd Meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA23) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal, urging member countries to adopt the protection of pollinators as one of the goals within the Post 2020 CBD framework.

“We need to recognize and acknowledge pollination as a key element in the conservation of biological diversity”, stressed Martijn Thijssen, the Secretary of Promote Pollinators in his statement.  Expressing the Coalition’s willingness to support the group, he emphasized that the creation of a pollinator/pollination related target in the post 2020 CBD framework will bring us one step closer to the ultimate goal of giving pollinators and pollination the protection they deserve.

Promote Pollinators was established during the thirteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to CBD (COP13) in 2016 in order to place the protection of animal pollinator species on the World’s political agenda. Following on the recommendations from Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production, Promote Pollinators is committed to take action to protect pollinators and their habitats by developing and implementing national pollinator strategies, with members mutually supporting each other, sharing experiences and lessons learned and promoting research on pollinator conservation. The coalition currently includes some 30 participating countries, as well as non-state members such as the European Union and BES-Net.

As a way forward, Promote Pollinators recommended the creation of an ad-hoc open-ended working group to propose a specific target and indicators for pollinators and pollination.

For the full statement please click here.